Splitting machine



2 Sheets-Sheet l C. F. FITZGERALD SPLITTING MACHINE Filed May 3, 1946Dec. 23, 1947.

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Dec. 2.3, 1947. c. F. FITZGERALD 2,433,038 I SPLITTING MACHINE Filed Mays, 1946 2 sheets-sheet 2 a l ,f ly `l Il 'z "QE I 100 :I I

23 j 'ff 15 l gym! 5 37 Inventor Charles F Fitzgerald Patented Dec. 23,1947 vnnrreo STAT-Es PATENT oifricla.

SPLTTING MACHINE Charles F. Fitzgerald, Beverly, Mass., assigner toUnited- Shoe Machinery Corporation, Vlleinington, N. J., a corporationof New l'Jersey Application May 3, 1946, Serial No. 667,030

(Cl.A 'G9-113) 6 Claims. 1

This invention relates to machines for splitting or evening sheetmaterial and is herein illustrated as embodied in a machine particularlyadapted to even thick pieces of leather such, for example, as heellifts.

Leather splitting machines commonly comprise a knife or cutter, and apair of separable rolls whichfeed the work to the knife. One of theserolls, commonly the lower one7 is a pressure roll which is locatedbeneath the plane of the knife, is urged upwardly by heavy springsagainst a stop, and is designed to be pressed downward whenthe leadingend of a piece of work enters between theV rolls, and to yield toirregularities in the thickness of the work while the work is beingsplit. The other roll, called a gage roll, is commonlylocated above theyielding pressure roll and the plane of the knife in rigid butadjustable bearings; and its adjusted position above the cutting edge ofthe knife determines the uniform thickness to which the work will besplit or evened.

In a splitting machine of this general type comprisingr a knife to whichthe work is fed by two cooperating rolls, it is desirable that thedistance from a plane passed through the axes of the rolls to theV edgeofthe knife be as small as possible. This distance cannot be zero sincewith such a position of parts there is insufcient clearance betweentheknife` and the rolls for the passage between the knifev and the rollsof the split piece of work and of the waste split or skiving. Insplitting or evening pieces of work with machines of this kind in whichthe knife is set as close as practical to the plane which passes throughthe aXes of the rolls, and the distance between said knifeedge andsaidplane always remains the' same, there is a tendency to start thesplitting or evening cut too far from the pressure roll so that the cutis made for a short distance at nrst on a downward bevel before itstraightens l'out at the desired level. 'The result is a iinished 'pieceof work which is of substantially uniform thickness throughout its majorportion but is more or less abruptly beveled atV one of its ends. Thisbeveling or nipping as it is commonly referred to, of one end of thepiece of Work is in many instances'very disadvantageous. For example,when heel lift blanks are thus split or evened, there results aplurality of heel lifts each of which 'has been nipped or sharplybeveled along one edge so that at this locality each lift is thinnerthan throughout its major portion;l and when, for example, such heellifts are built into a heel, the heightofthe heel 2 is reduced alongthatedge in which the beveled portions of thellifts lie.

The purpose of the present avoid or'prevent this nipping or leading endof the work.

It is desirable in splitting machines of this type, as has been stated,that the cutting edge of the knife be located as close as possible tothe plane connecting the axes of the rolls. At the same time, of course,there must be sufficient clearance between the knife and the rolls topermit the finished piece andthe split to pass respectively between theknife and the gage roll and between the knife and the pressure roll. Ifthe knife is set too close to the plane which passes through the axes ofthe rolls, there will not be clearance enough for the iinished stock andthe split or skiving.

in the illustrated machine, according to the present invention, thedistance between the edge of the knife and a plane passed through theaxes of the rolls is small when no work is in the machine and remains sountil the leading end of the work has entered between the rolls and itsleading edge has contacted with the edge of the knife. The knife ismounted for movement toward and from a plane passed through the axes ofthe rolls, being yieldingly held as close as is practical to-said plane.When, therefore, the leading edge of the work contacts with the edge ofthe knife, it moves the knife away from said plane, e, stop beingprovided to limit the extent of such last-named movement.

This and other features of the invention, including certainV details ofconstruction and combinations of parts, will be described as embodied inan illustrated machine and pointed out inthe appended claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is, a front elevation of a machine'in which the presentinvention is embodied; and

Figure 2 is a median longitudinal cross-section on the plane indicatedby the line II-II in Fig. l and in the `direction indicated by thearrows.

Referring rst to Figure l, a general type of old and well-known machinein which the present invention is embodied will be briefly described.The illustrated machine comprises a frame 3 in which are mounted the twobearings for the shaft of a lower or pressure roll 5, said roll beingcommonly knurled. These bearings are normally held up by heavy springs iagainst stops, herein shown as screws. The pressure roll may hence yielddownwardly when necessary. A cooperating gage roll I I is locateddirectly above thepressure invention is to beveling of the roll, theshaft of this roll being carried by two bearings which are slidablevertically in the frame of the machine. The top of each bearingcomprises a wedge-shaped portion I3, I3 with which respectivelycooperate wedges I5, I5 carried by a bar I1. Springs I9, I 9 hold theinclined faces of the wedge-shaped portions I3, I3 of the bearings ofthe shaft of the upper roll II against the inclined faces of the wedgesI5. In order to adjust the gage roll II vertically, a handwheel (notshown) is provided, turning of which moves the bar II, and with it thewedges I5, to the right or to the left. Behind the rolls 5, II there iscommonly present, in the old type of splitting machine being referredto, a stationary knife, such a knife not being present in theillustrated machine as will appear below. The rolls are driven inopposite directions to feed a piece of work away from the observer, asviewed in Figure 1. Such driving means includes a sha-ft 20 having fastand loose pulleys and a number of gears (all of which are not shown) andcertain of these gears mesh loosely with others to provide for verticaladjustment of the upper or gage roll II and the lower or pressure roll5. Machines of the general type of the one described briefly above, inwhich a piece of work is fed between a gage roll and a pressure rolldriven in opposite directions, and in which the gage roll is adjustableto vary the thickness of the finished work, and the pressure rollisyieldable in accordance with the thickness of the work, are old andwell known, one such machine being disclosed for example, in UnitedStates Patent No. 894,850, granted August 4, 1908, upon an applicationfiled in the name of Frederick J. Nash. As has been explained, whenpieces of work such, for example, as heel lifts, are split on suchmachines, the leading edges of said lifts are commonly nipped In orderto avoid this nipping the present invention provides a knife which isnormallythat is, when there is no work in the machinelocated a givendistance from a plane passed through the axes of the rolls, and is movedaway from this plane by the leading end of the work as it is fed betweenthe rolls. Referring now to Figure 2, it will be noted that thecooperating rolls II and 5 are located one directly over the other. Theknife 2i is not stationary, as it is in the old type of splittingmachine, but is mounted on a carrier 23 which is pivoted about a stud orrod 25 near the bottom of the machine, In order to hold the knife in theposition shown (l) when there is no work in the machine and (2) when theleading end of the work |00 has entered between the rolls up to the timeits leading edge contacts with the edge of the knife, there is provideda spring-pressed plunger 21 together with a screw 29 for varying theforce of the spring 3|, the plunger engaging with its left-hand end, asviewed in Figure 2, the carrier for the knife, the right-hand end of theplunger engaging the spring, and the screw being threaded through arigid part 33 of the frame of the machine and provided with a lock nut35. Cooperating with the spring-pressed plunger 2? is a stop screw 37threaded through a depending lug on the knifecarrier 23 and engagingwith its end the rigid member 33. When the moving piece of work |00contacts with the edge of the knife, it rocks the knife-carrier aboutthe axis of the rod 25 and thus pushes the knife away from a planepassed through the axes of the rolls. In order to predetermine how muchthis distance from the edge of the knife shall be increased, there isprovided 4 a second stop screw 39 which is threaded through the rigidmember 33. Its left-hand end is normally spaced, as shown in Figure 2,from the knife-carrier 23, and is adapted to engage said carrier whensaid carrier is rocked clockwise about its pivot 25.

The operation of this mechanism is as follows. The gage roll is adjustedvertically so that the distance from its lower` element to the plane ofthe knife edge equals the thickness desired in the finished piece ofwork, the edge of the knife lying substantially in a horizontal planepassed through the uppermost element of the lower roll.

When a piece of work enters between the rolls it depresses the lowerroll more or less depending upon the thickness of the leading end ofsaid piece. In any event, as the work is fed forward (to the right asviewed in Figure 2) it presently contacts with the edge of the knife.This is the position of parts shown in Figure 2. At that time the knifehas engaged the leading end of the work at just the right level, but ifthe distance from the edge of the knife remains as it is shown, therewill not be sufficient clearance for the nished piece of work and thesplit-off chip to pass. What happens now is that the clearance isincreased because the knife is pushed to the right against the force ofthe spring-pressed plunger 2 until the knife-carrier 23 contacts withthe stop screws 39. Thereafter the splitting takes place, and after thework leaves the machine the spring-pressed plunger 2l' returns the knifecarrier to its normal position, By thus starting the splitting cut atthe right location on the leading end of the work, and providing aproper distance between the edge of the knife and a plane passed throughthe axes of the rolls, the nished work is uniform in thicknessthroughout.

It should be noted that the plane through the axes of the rolls issubstantially perpendicular at all times to the plane of the cut of theknife. Theoretically, of course, the knife is not exactly perpendicularsince it moves in an arc. However, this arc is so short, and the radiusof swinging movement of the carrier 33 is so long, that the movement ofthe knife, as viewed in Figure 2, is substantially horizontal.

Although the invention has been described as embodied in a particularmachine, it should be understood that the invention is not limited inthe scope of its application to the particular machine which has beenshown and described.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A machine of the class Adescribed having, in combination, a pair ofrolls rotatable in opposite directions, a knife to which the work is fedby said rolls, one of said rolls being a gage roll adjustable toward andfrom the knife to predetermine the thickness to which the work will besplit, the other roll being a pressure roll between which and the knifethe split which is removed from the work passes, yielding means forpermitting the pressure roll to move away from the gage roll in responseto the entering of the work between the rolls, a carrier for the knife,said carrier being movable to cause the knife to move .toward and from aplane passed ment ldue to said yielding means, and means for limitingthe extent of movement of the knife car rier in opposition to the actionof said yielding means.

2. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a pair ofrolls rotatable in opposite directions, a knife to which the Work is fedby said rolls, one of said rolls being a gage roll adjustable toward andfrom Ithe knife to predetermine the thickness to which the work will besplit, the other roll being a pressure roll between which and the knifethe split which is removed from the work passes, the edge of the knifelying substantially in a plane extending in the path of feed movement ofthe work and passing through that element of the pressure roll which isnearest to the feed roll, yielding means for permitting the pressureroll to move away from the gage roll in response to the entering of thework between the rolls, a carrier for the knife, said carrier beingmovable to cause the knife to move toward and from a plane passedthrough the axes of the rolls, yielding means urging the knife carriertoward said plane, means for limiting the extent of movement due to saidyielding means, andmeans for limiting the extent of movement of theknife carrier in opposition to the action of said yielding means.

3. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a gage roll,a cooperating pressure roll, a knife to which the work is fed by therolls, the edge of the knife being located in the path of feed movementof the work, .the knife being movable toward and from a plane passedthrough the axes of the rolls,'yielding means and stop means fornormally holding the knife at a small distance from said plane wherebythe work as it is fed through the machine contacts with the knife andmoves it away from said plane, and means for limiting the distance towhich it is moved.

4. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a gage roll,a cooperating pressure roll yieldingly mounted for movement away fromthe gage roll in a ldirection substantially perpendicular to the path offeed movement of the work, a movable knife to which the work is fed bythe rolls, the plane of the knife being normally substantially in theplane of that element of the pressure roll which is nearest to the gageroll, yielding means for urging the knife toward. the pressure roll,means for limiting movement of the knife toward the pressure roll,whereby the work, as it enters between the rolls and thereby depressesthe pressure roll and moves forward, contacts with the knife and pushesthe knife away from the pressure roll, and means for limiting movementyof the knife away from the pressure roll.

5. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a gage roll,a cooperating pressure roll, a movable knife to which the work is fed bythe rolls, yielding means and a stop for maintainl ing the knife, whenno work is in the machine, with its edge at a given 'distance from aplane passed through the axes of the rolls while permitting it to yieldaway from said plane, and means for limiting said yielding-away movementwhereby the splitting cut is started with the knife in the first-namedposition and the major portion of the splitting cut takes place with theknife in the second-named position.

6. A machine of the class described having, in combination, twocooperating rolls, one of which is yieldingly mounted for movement awayfrom the other in a direction substantially perpendicular to the path offeed movement of the work, a movable knife to which the work is fed bythe rolls, yielding means at all times urging the knife toward a planepassed through the axes of the rolls, means for limiting such movement,and means for limiting movement of the knife awai7 from said plane inopposition to the force of said yielding means.

CHARLES F. FITZGERALD.

